Happy Holidays, guys! This is my Christmas present to you guys. I'll be updating A Thousand Years sometimes after Christmas. Around the 28th or 29th. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! This year has been amazing! School has been great and thank you all of you for continuing to support me on my writing. It's improved and it's all thanks to you guys. All the reviews, the constructive criticism, it's helped me so much. So thank you 3

I did not proofread this. At all. Haha. Well, I did but it was just a once-over. I hope you guys enjoy, review. Enjoy your holidays and I hope you guys have had an amazing year! And I hope next year is better than this one.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years.

~C

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. I wish I did; that'd be awesome but I don't. I also do not own the song in this oneshot.


"So, Wise Girl, do you have anything planned for Christmas?" Percy asked as he wiped the sweat off of brows. He quirked a brow at her inquiringly while she slid her knife back into its sheath. Annabeth took a long drink from her canteen filled to the brim with water and watched the long procession of campers as the trudged out of the arena with sweat glistening off their faces and bodies.

Shrugging, she recapped her canteen and said, "Not really." She followed the line of campers streaming out the arena and Percy fell into steps beside her. It seemed like everyone wanted to get in a few last minute training sessions before they leave to spend Christmas with their families.

"Why not?" Percy questioned. He slung his arms around Annabeth shoulders and she snuggled into his embrace, purposely ignoring the overwhelming stench wafting off of him. Though she couldn't really talk, she probably smelled pretty bad at the moment, too.

"Well, it's not really celebrated at my house." Annabeth replied vaguely.

Percy frowned; what did she mean by that? "Why not?" He reiterated.

They took a detour on their way to their cabins. From the arena, they took the beach route; it was more scenic and it provided them the peace and quiet they'd much needed. When the lush green grass met with small grainy sands, they each slipped off their shoes and sauntered through the wide expanse of crystalline pecks. Annabeth slipped her hands into his and Percy smiled to himself. Despite their strong on-going relationship, he still couldn't believe he'd gotten a girl like Annabeth; it was too good to be true.

"You know how my dad was," she dodged. "he didn't like me very much and he'll try to skip out on any, if not all, family-related activities that he could. And my stepmother didn't very well object to that; she was okay with it, she disliked me as much as I disliked her."

"I've met her, Annabeth. She doesn't seem that bad." Percy commented, frowning. The stretch of beach was empty save for a few tails flipping above the surf. Everyone was either doing camp activities or in their cabins packing for the break.

"She isn't now. But she was." Annabeth informed him. "It's gotten marginally better. Anyway, when we did get to spend time together as a family, it would always end in disaster. I remember when I was eleven, I tried going back and it went well for the first few hours then monsters started to bombard the house and eventually, they place the blame on me and I came right back to camp."

Percy gave her hand a squeeze and she squeezed back. The camp's atmosphere was unusually quiet; normally, the camp would be teeming with campers chattering or shouting while they participated in the allotted activities. One could almost hear them kicking up sand in their wake. "That's horrible."

Annabeth nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so, I'll probably just spend another Christmas here with Chiron. We probably won't be doing anything festive anyway. Kim said something about taking Matthew and Bobby to the zoo. As much as I'd like to smell feces on Christmas, I think I'll skip out on all of that." she shook her head and turned to him, smiling brightly though Percy could identify an underlying sadness in her voice when she asked him, "What about you? Any plans for the Hero of Olympus?"

He gave her a flat look; he still wasn't used to that title. The destruction of Kronos was a team effort yet he didn't hear anyone calling Annabeth, Grover, or Thalia that. "I'm probably just going to spend time with my mom and Paul. And Tyson; Poseidon's letting him come up for the holidays."

His girlfriend sighed wistfully. "That'd be nice. To actually spend time with your family."

A lightbulb went off in Percy's head. Unlike all the ideas he had in the past, the majority of them usually bad ones, this one was actually pretty good. Percy stopped suddenly and because of their interlinked hands, Annabeth stopped also. She turned back and frowned. "Why'd you stop?" "Because I just had a great idea." Percy replied, grinning.

Annabeth groaned. "Please, nothing about putting a mistletoe in the Ares' cabin. It didn't go over so well last year."

Percy rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? It went great last year!"

"Are you kidding? Clarisse practically skewered you!" Annabeth chided. "You were so lucky Chiron stepped in when he did." she tapped her chin, thinking. "Actually, she did retaliate a few hours later so maybe not so lucky."

"It's not that." Percy said quickly, not wanting to remember what he had to endure last Christmas. "I was wondering if you want to spend Christmas with me. And my family."

Annabeth froze, looking up at him with doe eyes. Ever since last summer, he'd grown impossibly fast. Now, at six two, he practically towered over her. While it was great that she didn't have to hunch down whenever they kissed, it was gave him an unfair advantage towards her whenever they were sword-fighting. Plus, now she'd have to stand on her tiptoe whenever she wanted to surprise him with a kiss; that was not fun.

"Annabeth?"

His gentle reminder brought her back to the present and while she didn't move, she was acutely aware of his gaze scanning her face. Annabeth blinked and broke out of her haze. What was he saying? He wanted her to spend Christmas with him and his family? Annabeth was suddenly bombarded with a vision of Tyson surprising the two of them with a mistletoe and she blushed. Even more unnerving was the fact that this is the first Christmas they would spend together. She was both nervous and excited.

"Say something. You're kind of freaking me out just standing there." Percy urged, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

Annabeth fully snapped out of her reverie, threw her arms around his neck, stood on her tiptoes (much to her annoyance), and pressed her lips against his gently. It took him a while to respond but when he did, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her upward so that her feet no longer touched the grounds.

"Well?" He prompted.

She touched his red, wet lips affectionately and smiled at him with adoration. "I'd love to spend Christmas with you."

...

"Just hurry up and pick a tree so we can leave." Percy urged, crossing his arms across his chest. Through his multiple layers of sweatshirts and thermos, he could still feel the December chilll seeping through his clothing and into his skin. Percy's teeth chattered and his body twitched, as if he were having seizures.

While he was freezing out of his skin, Annabeth was standing still, finger to her lips, staring up at the looming evergreen tree above her. "Annabeth." He whined, the cold jabbing needles into his sides.

"Shush!" she replied, never taking her eyes off the tree she was staring at. "What do you think of this one?"

"I honestly don't give a fuck. Just hurry up!"

Annabeth whipped around to stare at him, an amused quirk to her lips. He was annoyed, and apparently very cold because Percy rarely cusses. He only does so when he's impatient about something or pissed off at a certain someone, mainly Nico. Percy glared at her, rocking on his feet, trying to warm himself up. "Don't rush me. These things take time! And you aren't helping me with your rushing so..."

"You want me to help?" Percy demanded. "Fine. I like that one. Now, let's go."

"See, you're just saying that to appease me. You haven't really thought about your vision of the perfect tree yet." Annabeth responded stubbornly, suppressing a smile when he let out a groan.

"I honestly don't know why my mother asked you to pick out the tree. Why couldn't we use an artifical one?" Percy muttered, scuffing his shoe against the snow-covered grounds.

"Because." Annabeth insisted. "She knows you have no vision. And we can't use an artifical one because it's not the same! And it's my first real Christmas, you should be a bit more sensitive!"

Percy snorted. "Vision."

"Yes, vision." Annabeth repeated more firmly. "And tree-picking is part of the Christmas tradition, isn't it?"

"Yes." Percy grumbled, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. It was Christmas Eve and the last thing he wanted was to spent the night outside in the cold picking out a stupid tree. Percy's mouth watered as he imagined snuggling on the couch with Annabeth, a cup of hot cocoa in his hand while his mother bustled about.

His mother had been ecstatic when she found out that Annabeth would be with them during the holidays. Tyson had resurfaced from Poseidon's kingdom, bringing along with him stories of an underwater realm. Percy's heart clenched as he thought of his father. As much as he loved Paul, Percy would rather Poseidon be with them on Christmas.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted excitedly.

Sighing, Percy forced his feet to move and they carried him over to his overzealous girlfriend, who was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, pointing at an average height tree.

"This is the one." She announced excitedly. Annabeth petted one of the tree's boughs lovingly and glanced at Percy. "Isn't it perfect?"

"Yeah, perfect." Percy agreed half-heartedly. He waved over an employee and pointed to the tree. "We'll take that one."

"Great. Let me get something to cut it down."

While they waited, Annabeth focused her attention on the tree. Finally, she said, "Wait, I don't think this is the right one..."

"No!" Percy shouted, frantic. He didn't want to spend another minute out in the cold.

Annabeth grinned and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm kidding. This is the one. I'm not that cruel." She brought her lips to his and he kissed her back with ferver. Her lips were surprisingly soft and warm considering their current environmnent.

A few minutes later, they were cruising down the street, with the tree strapped to the roof. In the distant, the brightly lit tip of the tree in Time Square could be seen. At a stoplight, Percy turned in his seat to face Annabeth and smiled, "One tradition down. Couple more to go."

...

"Percy, go get the decorations from closet." Sally commanded her son, giving him a warm smile. Percy grunted and disappeared down the hall. Paul rose from the couch and threw a couple more firewoods into the fireplace and stroked the flames. Bing Cosby was playing softly in the background, singing about a White Christmas. Percy came back, boxes of decorations piled high in his arms.

"A little help would be nice." His voice was muffled behind the boxes.

"Nah. I think the Hero of Olympus can handle the weight." Annabeth teased, coming to help him despite her words.

Percy stuck out his tongue at her, looking extremely adorable. "Some girlfriend you are."

Annabeth shrugged; his words didn't bother her. It would've if she didn't know how much he loved her. Together, they unpacked the shiny, decorative balls, ceramic, hollowed out angels and snowmans and the big, bright star that was meant to go on top.

Tyson woke up from his nap and lumbered out into the living room. His eye lit up when he saw what they were doing, clapped his hand and stomped his way over to them to help. His size aside, he was surprisingly gentle with the decorations. When the tinsels were wrapped around and around and all the decorations were on top, all of them took a step back to admire the tree.

Sally handed Annabeth the star and motioned to the tree, smiling at her warmly. "Would you do the honors?"

Percy nodded encouragingly before picking her up, sitting her on his shoulders so she'd be able to reach. When the star was situated securely on top, Percy lowered her down, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. Paul flicked off the lights and the room was awashed in a rainbow of red, green, yellow and other assortments of colors.

The lone star on top shone brighter than all the others.

...

Annabeth crept on the bed, careful not to disturb her sleeping boyfriend. Tyson tittered in the doorway and she pressed her finger to her lips, a gesture for him to quiet down. In her hand, she held a fresh mistletoe and slowly, she lowered herself down beside Percy. In her deep concentration, she didn't notice Tyson shutting the door on his way out to allow them some privacy.

Dangling the mistletoe over his head, she leaned down and kissed him, jarring him awake. When she pulled back, he was staring up at her with a wide smile, showing his adorable dimples. "Hi." He breathed, arms automatically encircling her waist.

"Hi." she replied, swooping down to kiss him again. "Merry Christmas."

"Hm." He groaned when she pulled back. "Why can't every day be like this?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and pushed off of him. "You're not that lucky. Come on. Your mom went all out this morning. Blue pancakes, waffles, the whole deal. Somehow she even made blue syrup."

Percy jerked upward, grasped Annabeth's hand tightly in his and raced out of his bedroom, seemingly more excited about breakfast than the prospect of lying in bed with Annabeth for a few more minutes. Paul, Sally, and Tyson were already seated at the kitchen table. Plates and platter of blue foods occupied the table's surface and when they entered, Sally smiled at them mischieviously, as if she knew what they had been doing.

"Sit!" His mother fluttered her hands around and pulled out two chairs. Since Tyson couldn't possible fit at the table, he was seated on the couch, staring, transfixed, at the glowing television screen. When plates were set in front of them, they happily dug in, famished. In the midst of chewing, Annabeth glanced upward and her gaze fell to the window.

"It's snowing!" Annabeth cried, her face split by a huge grin.

Percy couldn't help but laugh at her apparent enthusiasm towards the weather. "Yeah, it's New York. It snows every year."

She scowled at him. "You forget I spend nearly every Christmas either in San Francisco or at camp."

He nodded, understanding. "Right."

Then he picked up his fork and continued to eat.

"Come on!" Annabeth jumped up from her seat and grabbed her coat, thrusting her arms through the sleeves haphazardly before racing to the door. "Let's go!"

"What? Now?" Percy asked, incredulous. "And do what?"

"Snowball fights, snow angels, the whole deal." She squealed. "It's going to be so much fun!"

Percy's green eyes were as wide as saucers. "Do you know how cold it is outside? And it's nine in the morning! I haven't even finished my breakfast yet!"

Annabeth stared daggers at him.

He pushed away from the table and lumbered to the door. "Fine. You are so lucky I love you." Percy put on his coat and hand-in-hand, they walked outside, bracing the coldness together.

...

Annabeth let out a bloodcurdling shriek as a snowball the size of her fist whacked her in the neck. The snowball crumbled and the small snow drops fell down her shirt. She gasped and scratched at her coat, trying to rid herself of the snow. When she was considerably less cold, she glared at her boyfriend, who was laughing so hard she could see tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Stooping down, she rolled the snow in a ball and hid it behind her back.

Then she slowly stalked towards Percy, who was so oblivious to what she was doing. When his back was turned, she yanked his shirt opened and dumped the snowball inside. Now it was her turn to laugh as he jerked and seized, his hand halfway down his shirt. "Gah! C-cold!"

Annabeth's tinkling laughter could be hear all the way across New York City. She gathered up a few more snowballs and repeatedly pelted them at Percy, who tried to dodge as much as he could but to no prevail. When he stopped shivering, he was covered in slush. "I hoped you had fun." He growled lowly, playfully.

She grinned. "I did, actually."

"Really?"

"Yup." She replied, popping the 'p.'

Suddenly she was on the ground, the air whoosing out from her lungs. Annabeth blinked and tried to make sense of the situation. Percy's face loomed above hers, an adorable and quirky grin sliding onto his face. It took her a while to realized that he was straddling her and she was pressed in the snow. Annabeth blushed profusely and tried to move but Percy was either to strong or too fat. "Get off!" She laughed. "Gah, what have you been eating?"

Percy didn't answer her. He leaned sideways and scooped together a ball of snow. Annabeth's eyes widened and she twisted and struggled. "N-no. Don't! Percy! If you do that, I'll never talk to you again."

His green eyes glinted with mischief. "I don't think you can manage that."

"Try me." She glowered.

Against her protests, he pulled out the front of her shirt and coat and let the snowball slipped leisurely from his hand and onto her flushed and numbed skin. She gasped and jerked and bucked. "It's so cold!" She howled.

"See," Percy continued while his girlfriend struggled beneath him. "this would've never happened if we didn't go outside. I would've been more merciful if you'd let me finish my breakfast."

"J-jerk!" She managed, her teeth chattering in his mouth. "G-get off."

Upon seeing her blue-ish face, Percy complied, offering his hand to help her up. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up. Percy flushed her against his chest in a desperate attempt to warm her up. She was shivering sporadically against him and he felt a brief flash of guilt. "Are you cold?" He asked her.

She glared at him. "Y-yes. You're such an ass."

"Would an ass do this?" Then he leaned down and gently pressed his lips against hers. Annabeth's lips were cold and numb and Percy kissed them harder. Annabeth gathered his face in her cold hands and crushed their lips together even harder. Soon enough, a spark of warmth ignited and flowed throughout her body.

They pulled apart and Annabeth was dazed. "Uh...what?"

Percy smirked. "I knew my kisses would leave you speechless one day."

Annabeth scowled at him. "Whatever."

...

"God, it's so fucking cold outside." Nico complained as he stomped his snow boots against the mat in the Jacksons' foyer. Actually, it wasn't a foyer, it was more like a long hallway leading down to the living room.

"Would it kill you to not cuss for once?" Rachel scolded beside him. She slipped off her shoes and wandered down the hall, following the stream of conversation out into the living room. "Jeez. Potty mouth."

Nico scowled and followed after her grudgingly. "Stop trying to change me, Dare."

Percy's head jerked up when they entered the room. Sally greeted them warmly while Paul gave Nico a hearty slap on the back and Rachel a fatherly hug. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Percy questioned, tugging Annabeth tighter against his chest. She tipped her head back on his shoulder and stared at Nico and Rachel. Seeing her gaze, Rachel waggled her eyebrows at Percy and drew a heart with her fingers. Annabeth blushed and buried her face in Percy's neck; he jumped and she smirked.

"The Underworld isn't that festive this time of year." Nico mumbled as he joined the couple on the couch. "Ooh, football!"

Rachel pushed Percy over to make room and sat down, tucking her leg beneath her. "My father's not really the holiday type of person and my mother's in Vegas." She shrugged. As usual, Rachel's outfit was splattered with an assortment of paint and glitter. Her curly red hair was pulled back with a green scrunchie. Very festive.

"Vegas?" Annabeth asked, stifling a laugh. "What...?"

Rachel shook her head. "I really don't know. I hope you guys don't mind us dropping in like this."

Sally placed a plate of blue chocolate chips cookies on the table in front of them and smiled at Rachel warmly. "It's fine. The more the merrier. Rachel, Nico, would you guys like to stay for dinner?"

"Yes!" Nico exclaimed. "Oh, my Gods, I love your cooking."

Sally laughed and nodded, heading back into the kitchen. Nico scowled and eyed the pile of Christmas presents under the trees. "I thought tradition says you have to open your gifts on Christmas day. You know, like normal people."

Percy deadpanned. "Kid, you command the dead and hang out around spirits. I talk to dolphins and fishes and I can breathe underwater. Rachel here can spout out prophecies that predicts the future. Annabeth is like a fucking walking encyclopedia. I think we can all agree on the fact that we aren't normal people."

"Touche." Nico grumbled.

"Besides, we always open presents on the night of Christmas. It builds up supsense. That's our tradition." Percy informed him.

Annabeth laughed and ruffled Nico's hair, which he promptly fixed. "Oh, stop pouting!"

...

"So, how's your Christmas been so far?" Rachel asked Annabeth as the two of them helped Sally prepared dinner.

Annabeth grabbed the cutting board from the cabinet and set it onto the granite counter. Then she took out a knife and a stick of carrot and began chopping them up, her slice so precise that each piece came out even. "It's been amazing!" Annabeth replied with a silly smile on her face. "Percy and I picked out a tree yesterday, we decorated it, I put up the star. We had a snowball fight this morning..." She trailed off before continuing. "It's just been amazing. The past two days, I realized what I've been missing out on all these years."

"Wow." Rachel responded when she was done. "All I did was go to the studio and paint a stupid portrait of the Time Square Christmas tree." she looked at Annabeth from her eyelashes. "You love it then? I mean, him, spending time together, spending time with his family on Christmas?"

Annabeth bit her lips and nodded shyly. "Yes. I love all of it."

Rachel smirked. "Hm. That's good, then."

Annabeth frowned. Rachel had that know-it-all smirk on her face and Annabeth's insides churned uncomfortably. Either she knew something Annabeth didn't or she had a prophecy or a glimpse in the future about Annabeth's relationship with Percy; either way, she wanted to know. "What did you see?"

"Oh, nothing." She responded slyly, scooping up the chopped carrots from the board and plopping it into the boiling stew. "Get me the salt."

Annabeth handed Rachel the salt shaker before saying indignantly. "You can't just say something like that and not elaborate! It goes against every purpose you have as the Oracle!"

"Mmhm." Rachel answered incoherently. "Here, taste this."

Annabeth huffed before giving up. Rachel was like Annabeth in so many ways and one of their similarities were their stubborness. She trudged over to her redhead and took a tentative taste from the spoon Rachel held out. "Hm. Pretty good. Needs more salt though."

...

"Present time!" Sally sang and gathered Percy and his friends to the tree. Paul stood behind them with a digital camera in his hands. His salt-and-pepper hair was combed back, making him look marginally more handsome that he usually was. "Wait!" Sally intercepted, jumping up and racing to the stereo. She flicked on the radio and Christmas songs belted from the speakers. "Okay. Now."

Percy grinned at the song played on. "But baby, it's cold outside."

Nico groaned while Annabeth smiled and joined in. "The answer is no. This welcome has been so nice and warm."

"Look out the window at that storm."

"My sister will be suspicious. My brother will there at the door."

"Gosh, your lips look delicious."

"My maiden aunt's is vicious."

"Ooh - your lips are delicious."

Sally clapped along while Nico slapped his hands over his ears. Paul grinned and held the camera upward, indicating that he was capturing this moment. Rachel leaned back and closed her eyes, lost in the melody of the song and the way their voices blended together. Believe it or not, Percy's voice wasn't that bad.

"Oh. My. Gods. Kill me now." Nico groaned. Tyson was giggling like this was the most exciting thing that's ever happened.

"Oh, but it's cold o-o-outside." Percy and Annabeth finished, smiling warmly at each other.

Rachel jumped up, clapping heartily and Sally, Paul, and Tyson joined in. Nico reluctantly clapped too after Rachel slapped him upside the head. "Yay!" Nico cheered flatly. "Presents!"

Sally laughed endearingly and nodded, lowering the radio's volume. She crept over to the tree and grabbed the nearest box. She read the tag and handed it to Tyson. They all looked eagerly as he tore off the wrappings but kept the bow. Inside contained about five jars of peanut butter and they all laughed. Tyson wrapped his arms around Sally and gave her a tight squeeze. She groaned and Paul looked at her with concern. She waved her hand and handed the next gift to Paul. Paul set it aside and motioned for her to continue.

"Rachel."

Startled, she blinked and asked, "What? Me?"

"Of course. I had a feeling you guys would drop by." Sally replied and handed Rachel her gift.

Tentatively, Rachel peeled back the decorative papers and her hand went to her mouth when she caught a glimpse of what was inside.

"What did you get?" Nico asked.

Rachel produced two new drawing pad, a couple of brushes, and twelve jars of paint. "I don't know what to say." She uttered, speechless. Then she gave Sally a hug and when she pulled back, her eyes were filled with tears. "Thank you. So much."

While the procession of gift-giving continued, Percy pulled Annabeth up from the floor and led her down the hallway to his bedroom. Annabeth frowned, confused. "I got something for you." Percy said, motioning for her to come over to the window. She did so slowly, not sure what to expect.

They slid down to the floor and leaned back against the wall. Percy turned to her and brought out a black velvet box with a little bow on top. Annabeth gasped and stared at the box reverently. "Is that...?"

"Yeah."

"That's an engagement ring?" Annabeth exclaimed, hands to her mouth.

Percy nodded. "Yeah - wait, what? No! No. It's not an engagement ring. Oh, gods. Uh, not that I don't want to be engage to you, it's just we're too young and I'm not ready and damn it! I will be ready but not now..."

Annabeth laughed and a deep blush colored Percy's cheeks. "Relax. I know what you meant. So, what is it?"

He lifted up the top and Annabeth gasped again. It was a silver necklace with an emerald pendant dangling downward. She touched the stone gently and asked, "Why emerald?"

"It's the colors of my eyes. When you wear it, it'll remind you of me."

Annabeth grinned. "Narcissist."

Percy shrugged. "It's what I'm best at. Turn around. Let me put this on you."

She complied and tears filled her eyes when the stone nestled in the indentation of her collar bone. "Thank you. This is amazing." She kissed him and he could taste her salty tears. Annabeth pulled back and crawled over to where her bag laid. She reached in and said, "Here, I got you something too."

Percy ripped through the wrappings and his eyes widened when he held up the game. "No way. Is this Modern Warfare 3?"

Annabeth nodded. "I didn't think you'd be into the whole sentimental jewelry thing so I got you this. And," She produced to new controllers and handed it to him. "your old ones are really crappy. And this way, I can happily kick your ass when we play."

Percy stared at his girlfriend, momentarily stunned before he jerked her to his chest. "You are the best girlfriend ever."

She laughed. "I'm your first and only girlfriend."

"That too." He pulled back and gazed at her lovingly. "Was this Christmas everything you hoped for?"

Annabeth nodded and brushed her lips against his. "And more. Thank you, Percy."

Percy cupped her cheeks and pressed his lips against hers, feeling her respond immediately. "I love you, Annabeth."

She smiled against his lips. "I love you too. And Merry Christmas."